Milk Money
by Welcome-To-PandaLand
Summary: A re-written version of the scene where Peter comes across Uncle Ben's killer and the discourteous employee working in the corner store. In this version, the killer is not the only important character Peter encounters during his trip to the store. (The Amazing Spider-Man Movie One-Shot)(Fits in with the rest of the movie.) Formerly called "Before Two Cents Meant So Much"
1. Chapter 1

A.N. I based this off of the deleted version of this scene. It isn't much different from the scene that made the final cut of the movie, but the store clerk is a lot more of a jerk in that version. If you want to watch it just search for the deleted scenes in The Amazing Spider-Man movie. This is how I imagine they could have put Mary Jane in the first movie without giving her a huge part, and having people freak out about it. ENJOY.

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**Milk Money**

Peter Parker sets a bottle of chocolate milk on the check-out counter. When he walked into the corner store he immediately noticed the store clerk's bad attitude. He was already exasperated and impatient and wanted to get in and out of the store as soon as possible.

"Its 2.07, sir." The rather plump store clerk with long, dark, greasy hair that went down to his shoulder said, nodding at Peter as if he didn't understand what he was saying.

Peter freezes. Two more cents, he had only found $2.05 in the pockets of this wrinkled, faded, blue jeans. He looked at the counter, trying to think of some way to find two cents. He most certainly wasn't going to ask his Uncle Ben. Not after the scene that he had caused back at their house over Peter staying late to help Dr. Connors and forgetting to pick up Aunt May.

Aunt May had said it wasn't a big deal so why was Uncle Ben so worked up about it? Sure Peter felt guilty about it, he always felt guilty anytime he disappointed his Aunt and Uncle. But then Ben brought up his father, which is always a touchy subject.

"Yeah, no I know." Peter quietly mumbles, still searching for a way to pay him the rest of the money. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a container with a few pennies sitting on the check out counter. He picks up two pennies and sets them on the counter with the rest of the money he was using to pay for the milk.

"No," The store clerk says, picking up the pennies and dropping them back into the container. "You can leave a penny, you can't take a penny." He says, impatiently.

Peter blinks. Confusion flooding his brain. "...What?" He questions.

"You can leave a penny anytime, you have to spend ten dollars to take a penny, store policy." Says the clerk, slowly, which makes Peter feel stupid.

"Uhh whe- when," He stutters, "s-s-since when has this been a store policy?" Peter asks. His eyebrows raised, almost as if he's trying to silently ask the clerk if he could spare two cents.

But the clerk won't let him off the hook, he is trying to make Peter feel small, like he means nothing to the world.

"S-s-since my boss made up the policy." He says, mocking Peter by purposely stuttering, stretching his arms out to his sides, again, to make Peter feel dumb.

Peter licks his lips, feeling stuck. Its two cents. Why does two cents matter so much.

"You gonna pay or what? You're holding up my line." The clerk said states, growing more impatient by the minute. Peter knows for a fact that there is only one other person in this store.

"Well I don't have two cents so either y-y-you-"

"If you can't afford your milk, just step aside. What daddy didn't give you enough milk money today? Lil' baby gonna go cry about it?" The store clerk taunts. "Just step aside, kid."

"Hey!" A high pitched voice from a few feet behind Peter says.

Peter knew there was a man behind him in line with shoulder length blonde hair and sunglasses, buying a six-pack of beer cans, but what he didn't know was that a girl had walked in to buy herself a pack of twizzlers, a small can of Arizona tea and a movie from the small selection of movies they sold at the store.

He turns his head to look for the source of the voice, not expecting to find a short teenage girl in a pair of ripped, boot cut, blue jeans, a purple tank top, and a grey, zip-up sweatshirt. Her red hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail except for her side swept bangs.

Peter is very confused, which anyone could tell by the way he was looking at her, with his eyebrow raised and scrunched together. What is she upset about?

"That's not cool. The way you're treating him. In fact its extremely rude and disrespectful-" She tries to scold the clerk for making fun of Peter.

He realizes what she is doing, which only confuses him more, just in a different way. Why was she sticking up for him? She didn't even know his name.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but please stay out of this, its none of your business." The clerk cuts her off, as if he doesn't believe she can handle arguing with him.

The girl is visibly getting angrier. "No, the way you're treating him, like he's nothing to you. Like he doesn't matter at all and doesn't deserve respect is horrible and that's not okay." Her voice is getting louder, almost higher, yet still firm. Its almost funny how tough she thinks she is, like she is invincible.

The clerk says nothing, he just stares at her with one eyebrow raised, his jaw partially dropped. "I will not stand by and watch you make this guy feel like shit!" She says. She starts toward the counter, scowling at the clerk, and puts all the stuff she is buying into one arm.

Peter is sure she is about to hit him, and he's getting ready to stop her. He's frustrated with the guy, but not enough to hit him.

But then she sticks her hand into her pocket, pulls out a few pennies and slams them onto the counter.

The man behind Peter in line stands, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I hope you're happy. You just made me mad, disrespected him," she points her thumb at Peter. "And lost a customer." She says, dropping the bag of candy, the can of tea and the dvd on the counter and walks toward the door. She stops right before she exits the store, her hands already gripping the door handle as she glares at the clerk, and says, "Have a nice night, Asshole." And she walks out the door.

She was already frustrated when she walked in, ready to get a movie and some snacks to calm herself down, but now she was even more worked up than before, she is glad that she could use her anger to stand up for someone being treated poorly though.

All Peter does is stare at the girl the entire time, still wondering why she would help him, why she would stand up for him, why she would stand up to a stranger for a stranger. He is still staring at the door for about 20 seconds after she leaves before he realizes the man behind him has slammed his six-pack of beer cans on the counter. He picks up the drink and the receipt the scowling store clerk has carelessly dropped onto the counter, and leaves not caring that he left the extra pennies the girl has dropped on the counter and runs after her.

Before he gets to the door he hears something crash to the floor and turns his head back to the counter to see that the man who was behind him has knocked a small display shelf off of the counter and onto the floor.

"Really?" The clerk, says loudly in frustration, leaning to pick up what has fallen.

"Sorry," The man says, and while the clerk is leaning down with his back turned, he reaches into the open register and steals a few dollar bills. Peter quickly ducks out of the store quietly and pretends he didn't see what just happened. He quickly forgets about it as he runs down the street in search of the girl who helped pay for his drink.

Two cents felt like nothing when he was hoping to get away with only partially paying, but now that this stranger has paid two cents for his drink, it means a lot more. It isn't just the money, she also stood up for him, told the clerk off just for treating him, a stranger like shit, and she didn't even get to buy the things she went in there to get. He frowns, candy, tea, a movie, she was probably treating herself to a movie night, and he ruined it for her.

He spots a head of red hair walking fast down the street in an angry manner. He runs faster. "Hey!" He calls, trying to get her attention.

She doesn't turn around, so once he's closer he calls again. "Hey! Wait!"

This time she turns her head to find that the voice was calling her. He waves his hand once she looks at him and she stops and turns around completely.

"Hey," He says out of breath. "I... just wanted to um thank you," He pauses awkwardly. "F-for standing up for me." He adds quickly.

She smiles softly. "No problem. I can't stand watching people treat other people like that, which is kinda bad considering where I live." She looks up and stretches her arms out, gesturing to the city. "People don't exactly treat others like royalty around here." She states.

He nods and slips his hands in his pockets. "W-w I would've grabbed the extra change you had given me but, I...f-forgot." He says, looking down at the dirty New York sidewalk they're standing on.

She gives a wave of her hand as if to dismiss it. "Don't worry about it," She lightly laughs. "Its just a few pennies. Its not a big deal." She says, and laughs at the irony. He softly smiles and nods his head.

She gives him a look and tilts her head, like she is considering his face for the first time. He awkwardly looks at the ground again."You go to midtown." She states. He looks back up at her and squints slightly as he tries to figure out whether he's seen her at school or not. He doesn't recognize her.

"Yeah." Is all he says, and then he looks back at the ground.

She's still giving him the look. "What's you're name?" She asks and quickly nods he head once at the word "name".

He looks at her again, one corner of his mouth pointing upward for a second. "Peter." He answers.

She nods. "Mary Jane." She says, even though he didn't ask.

"M-Mary Jane." He repeats. "Well tha-" He doesn't finish because he gets a strange feeling. One that he doesn't recognize, chills running down his spine.

Then he hears gun shots and he looks behind him in the direction they were coming from. He has a terrible feeling about them.

"Well, we better get outta here, that doesn't sound good." She says, her eyes pointed in the same direction as his. Funny how different they look now, filled with worry, concern, maybe a bit of panic, from how they just looked. They remind him of a deer in the headlights, except her eyes are much bigger.

He doesn't want her, a teenage girl, (Which he figures because she knows he goes to midtown high school.) walking home alone at midnight, right after hearing gunshots, but he has a terrible feeling and needs to get to where they were coming from. "Yeah yeah, thanks again." He says, still looking behind him, distracted.

"See ya." She says, turning around quickly, and starts running home. He just turns his body and starts running the opposite way, towards the gunshots.

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A.N. And that's when it gets back on the movie track.


	2. SEQUEL

Okay, so if you're interested, I just posted a second one shot that is related to this one. Its called "About a Hundred Feet Away" and it will lead up to a multi chapter story. So yeah, just go check it out if you're interested. :)


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